More than 50% of calls by potential learners to literacy organizations in Canada are associated with ABC CANADA's LEARN campaign.

That's one of the findings in the report of a research study that tracked the impact of LEARN. The study found that the campaign is having a profound impact on Canadians in every province.

ABC CANADA initiated the multi-media campaign in 1994 to let Canadians know where they can find help to improve their literacy skills. At the centre of the campaign is an easy to read ad called the LEARN page which lists one or more phone numbers for literacy groups or referral services in every BellActimedia Inc. Yellow Pages TM and TELUS PAGES directory in Canada. The advertising space is donated by BellActimedia Inc. and TELUS Advertising Services at a media value of several million dollars. The campaign also includes radio, television, magazine and newspaper ads, as well as poster and outdoor ads.

In B.C. the LEARN page appears courtesy of Dominion Information Services and lists Literacy B.C.'s provincial toll free number.

During a 12 week period from January to April 1996, Literacy B.C. and 93 other literacy organizations across Canada asked callers a set of questions developed by ABC CANADA in consultation with the research partners. In addition to tracking the impact of the campaign, some of the questions were designed to obtain information from callers about factors such as age, level of education, and occupation. Callers were also asked what motivated them to call and what barriers kept them from calling in the past.

Some of the report highlights are:

• 36% of callers were unemployed.
• Of those callers in the paid labour force, 53% worked in one of two industries: sales and service (30%); or trades, transport, and equipment operation (23%). Nineteen percent of the general labour force works in these industries.
• People were motivated to call primarily for reasons relating to work (36%); and self-esteem and confidence (32%).
• Most learners did not call earlier because they had not known literacy programs existed or how to find them (42%).
• B.C. receives the highest percentage of LEARN-related calls: 59% of calls to Literacy B.C. during the research period were related to LEARN.

The Impact of ABC CANADA's LEARN Campaign: Resultsof a National Research Study is available on loan from Literacy B.C.
Phone: 1-800-663-1293.

Comments by adults in B.C. who called Literacy B.C. after seeing a LEARN ad. I think it's beautiful for people... they want to leam. It's the best ad I've ever seen. It made me want to try again It made me pick up a telephone. I looked at the ad and figured, "Why not?" I liked the message, "helping others learn to learn." It made me feel it was okay to do it.